


Queries

by Talyesin



Series: Aftermath on Finite Earths [9]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyesin/pseuds/Talyesin





	Queries

Earth Four  
Hub City

Yellow police tape crisscrossed the ruined offices of what had been the bullpen of the television studio that produced "Who Do You Think You Are?", Hub City's most popular investigative journalism show, hosted by Vic Sage. Now they were charred beyond recognition... as was the show's host.

A figure emerged from the shadows, silhouetted against the night sky. Athletically muscular, he moved with a quiet grace that spoke of years of intense training. He crouched at one point in the ruined office, where the floor was stained with something other than soot and ash. His fingertips brushed the floor, and he brought his hand to his face. He sniffed once, grimaced distastefully, then moved on.

"Peter," came a woman's voice from the shadows.

Peter Cannon, also known as Thunderbolt, was not easy surprised. Years of training in a Tibetan lamasery in order to perfect his body and mind had taught him a special awareness of his surroundings. But this woman was different. Clad in darkest blue, she slipped from the very shadows that made up part of her name.

"Nightshade," he replied quietly, returning to his inspection of the crime scene.

"Something's very wrong here," she said without further pleasantries.

"Of course it is," he answered. "It would hardly have attracted the notice of two of us otherwise, now would it?"

"Three of us," said another voice, hanging from a line outside the shattered windows.

"Beetle," Thunderbolt greeted him.

"Ted," Nightshade said, going to him and hugging him briefly.

"What brings you both to Hub City?" Blue Beetle asked.

"Another member of the Sentinels of Justice goes missing, and you ask why I'm here?" Nightshade answered.

"Another?" Thunderbolt asked.

"Captain Atom's been awol for nearly a month," Blue Beetle answered, pulling a device from his belt. Activated, the palm-sized instrument immediately began to click and clack. "Just what I thought, radioactive."

"Should we be concerned?" Thunderbolt asked, standing.

"It's not too bad, but I wouldn't advise moving in here," Blue Beetle answered, putting away his Geiger counter.

"So what do we do?" Nightshade asked. "Are we Sentinels being hunted?"

"There's no proof that Vic Sage was the Question," Thunderbolt answered. "If only he'd confided in one of us."

"He never trusted anyone," Blue Beetle said, scooping up some of the greasy-looking ash near where Thunderbolt had been crouching, placing the debris in a small metal vial. "Not enough to reveal who he really was. I mean, I've been investigating every suspicious death since the Question went missing, and unless he was really a standard poodle named Mitzi, I've got no clues as to his whereabouts."

"Keep in touch, then," Thunderbolt said, moving to the open window. "If someone is hunting action heroes, we need to stick together."

"You got it," Blue Beetle said as Thunderbolt leapt out the window, knowing there were six or seven perfectly reasonably ways to keep from plummeting to death from where they were.

"Ted," Nightshade said once the red-and-blue clad hero was gone, "I don't like this. Not at all."

"I know, Evey, neither do I. But we don't know who to trust."

"Who can we trust but ourselves?" asked a voice from the shadows. The figure stepped from the darkness, surprising the pair of action heroes. He was clad in a suit, fedora and a trenchcoat... and he was faceless.

"You are Vic Sage!" Blue Beetle exclaimed triumphantly.

"What makes you think that?" the Question replied.

"Well... you're here."

"Always the observant one, weren't you, Kord?"

"Question... who did this? And how did you escape?" Nightshade asked.

"How should I know?" the Question answered quietly. "Do I have all the answers?"

"No, but you can stop answering questions with more questions," Blue Beetle said. "It's giving me a headache."

"Is that how you want it?"

"Oy."

"Very well, Kord, I'll answer you as plainly as I can. I was Vic Sage... but Vic Sage is now dead. All that remains... is the Question." He turned his faceless features toward Nightshade. "To answer you, Eden, will require more investigation. Because the answer to the first query makes no sense... and the second one must remain unanswered, for the time being."

"Aw man, I hate it when you get all cryptic," Beetle complained, but he was grinning.

"Really?"


End file.
